How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Let me explain to you why by the very nature of the property market, there will always be discontentment over high property prices.

The property market in singapore is like a pyramid in terms of no vs price. Right at the top with very few nos is GCB followed by Bungalows,Semi D, terrace, condo, EC, HDB EA, 5 room, 4 room, 3 room and 2 rooms. The majority of people in Singapore stay in 4 room flats.

Let's say it is 2006 all over again.
A young couple buys a 4 room flat for $250k while an older couple buys a 1700sf FH terrace for 900k.

It is 2014. Young couple's 4 room flat is now worth $500k while older couple terrace is worth 1.8million..... The same 100% increase in price.

By your theory both couples are happy or equally happy. BUT do remember that the young couple, being young and knowing how to count, knows that a gain of $250k is NOT equal to a gain of $900k. In fact if ALL properties gained by 100%, the ones at the lower part of the pyramid will find it impossible to upgrade due to the simple fact that in 2006, the actual gap between the property that they own and what they aspire to get is small while in 2014, the gap has grown tremendously large.

This is the crux of the unhappiness behind the property price increases. There is only a group of people who may be happy I.e. The down graders or the people who Re selling to stay in Iskandar or Perth.

As for me, I am with the unhappy majority cos I am waiting to leap from HDB EA to terrace.

In other words, the power of leverage .... The property price increase has rewarded those who were bold and stretched themselves to buy more expensive properties, more than those who were conservative and bought smaller and more affordable properties.

50 yo married man, $80k pa. Wife is 45 yo, $75k pa. I save $30k pa while wife saves $40k pa. We live in a condo which is now valued at $1.1m. We sold our flat in 2005 and upgraded to the three bedroom condo which was $650k. We are lucky our investment in our condo pays off well as its value has appreciated. We have cleared our mortgage. Our car is a one year old 1.6l Korean car which we have paid up for in cash from our savings.

We aim to retire at 60. By then our daughter would be working. Once she gets married and move to her own BTO flat, we will sell our condo and buy a studio condo to free up some cash for us to invest in blue chip stocks to earn dividends. We will sell our condo for $1.1m and buy a studio condo at $600k so that we have $500k to buy stocks. Once we reach 65, we will get our CPF Life.

46, income $107k pa. Saves $40k pa. Net worth $700k.
Wife, 44, income $114k pa. Saves $50k pa. Net worth $650k.
Home (shared ownership) is a condominium in the west valued at $1m, loan left $250k.
Car paid up. Two children in secondary schools.
How are we doing? How can we prepare for retirement?
Our only assets are our condo, CPF savings and some cash.
Hope to hear comments from forumers here. Thank you.

32 year old
$115k per annum
engineering

Originally Posted by Unregistered

32 year old
$115k per annum
engineering

What position are you now? 32yrs old already $115k per annum?

Looking at your net worth and condo info, we can deduce that your assets less condo is now worth $600k ($700+650-750). This would include your CPF savings. If you both work for the next 20 years, your additional savings will be $1.8m ($90 x 20). So your investable assets will be $2.4m. Part of this will be your CPF SA and MA savings. Let's say the min sum for you when you reach 55 are $200k and $50k respectively, so the total CPF that need to be set aside for you as a couple is $500k.

When you reach 65, your CPF Life payout will be about $1500 for each person per month. So you get $3k pm in total.

You will also have cash of around $1.9m ($2.4m - 0.5m). You can invest in 5% dividend yield stocks giving you $95k pa or $7.9k pm.

In total you will have passive income of $10.9k pm ($3k + $7.9k) or $131k pa.

If you are lucky, your children will also give you a monthly allowance and this is a bonus for you.

So, you should have no problem retiring in your condo. If you want to get more cash, you can sell your condo and buy a smaller condo.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

46, income $107k pa. Saves $40k pa. Net worth $700k.
Wife, 44, income $114k pa. Saves $50k pa. Net worth $650k.
Home (shared ownership) is a condominium in the west valued at $1m, loan left $250k.
Car paid up. Two children in secondary schools.
How are we doing? How can we prepare for retirement?
Our only assets are our condo, CPF savings and some cash.
Hope to hear comments from forumers here. Thank you.

age 38, IT

240K per annum basic + 60K bonus

Mortgage is technically not an expense. Only the part that goes to pay off the interest is considered the expense. The rest of the mortgage payment is forced savings that goes into the value of the property.

Your family expense items are a bit off the norm I think. I noticed you don't have maid expenses? You should consider employing a maid which, believe or not, save you money.

For us, we have a maid who can cook reasonably well. As such, we have all our meals (especially dinner) at home. Only weekends do we eat lunch outside. She also does household chores leaving us precious times for family bonding after a hectic day at work/school.

Even counting the expense of owning 2 cars (my wife has her own car) we found that our household expense is $120k pa. Of course, we did not include the mortgage payment of our 2nd condo, only the interest payment part.

We have managed to maintain our household expense at the current level of $120k - $150k pa for almost 10 years now, allowing us to consistently save a huge chunk of our income (both earned and passive) of $450k pa.

I think both of us will do well in your financial journey as long as you don't have any gap in your employment till retirement.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Professional couple, with 2 kids in primary schools.

Husband, 42

Income $130k pa.
Savings $35k pa
Expenses $95k pa.
- Mortgage $2k pm ($24k pa)
- 2L continental car instalment $2k pm ($24k pa)
- Car related expenses and taxes (pro rated) $1.5k pm ($18k pa)
- Parents' allowances $1k pm ($12k pa)
- Food during work week $1k pm ($12k pa)
- Holidays $5k pa

Wife, 40

Income $124k pa
Savings $52k pa
Expenses $72k pa
- Groceries $2k pm ($24k pa)
- Clothings and beauty care $1k pa ($12k pa)
- Parents' allowances $1k pm ($12k pa)
- Food during work week $1k pm ($12k pa)
- Children $1k pm ($12k pa)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

34, 110K pa salary 50k pa rental income. Waiting for property prices to crash so that i can buy a second investment property and upgrade my first investment property.

And maybe someday, I'll be able to afford a terrace ! I say that with some happiness because its fun to work towards goals. I compete with myself for self-improvement in net worth.

Not unhappy, but sure am impatient.

For me, I am waiting for COE prices to crash so that I can change my current ride which will expire 2016. I think it will drop below $30k.

inheritance : 2M